Weinsteins Remaking Seven Samurai?

According to reports from China that are now making their ways to the US, The Weinstein Company is planning a remake of Akira Kurosawa'sSeven Samurai. Because, you know, it REALLY needs improvement -- what is with that black and white crap, anyway? And who wants to read subtitles? Sigh. A loose-lipped representative of Mandarin Films claims that Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen met with Harvey Weinstein at Cannes about starring in the film, and that both Zhang Ziyi and well-known Asian actor George Clooney have been approached as well. Who on earth would Clooney play? A white-guy farmer who moved to the village after the original movie was over, or something?

According to Monkey Peaches, the movie will be "slightly updated," and will feature lots of fun, "CGI-enhanced fight scenes." Though wire reports indicate the film's budget is unknown, the Asian press is throwing around a cost of about $100 million. Of course, how true any of this is remains very much up in the air -- personally, I expect a strongly worded denial for TWC any minute now.